Totowa, NJ: WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs) was scheduled to fight for the first time as a champion in Russia, his home country, in late November but the fight has been postponed due to scheduling conflicts. Kovalev will return to the ring very early in 2016. The date, opponent and location will be revealed shortly.

According to Sergey’s promoter, Main Events’ CEO Kathy Duva, “The two fights would simply have been too close together. As we worked on Sergey’s schedule for next year, it became clear that the best course would be to schedule his first bout in 2016 as early in the year as possible. While Sergey is disappointed that the bout in Moscow must be postponed, he understands that the change in schedule is necessary at this time and he will return to Russia to fight in front of his fans there as soon as possible.”

Kovalev, a consensus top-five pound-for-pound boxer and 2014 Fighter of the Year, has been an extremely active champion since winning his first title in August of 2013. He has defended his titles six times, including defeating the legendary Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins in a unification bout in November of last year. “The Krusher” is looking ahead to a big 2016.